


In A World That Don't Want Us

by StarDust3004



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-04-08 08:33:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19103503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarDust3004/pseuds/StarDust3004
Summary: Aurora McKenzie was a little girl when her father gives her to the O'Driscolls to clear a debt. She has been abused and put into situations no child should be in, and because of this she has hardened herself. A young Arthur Morgan finds her after the gang raids the camp she is in and saves her and then decides to raise her in the gang. 9 years on the gang are on the run from Pinkertons. Charles Smith is curious about the young girl who is quieter than him and tries to break through the walls she built. But that won't be easy, after being betrayed by her father, she was betrayed by someone in the camp too, that has left her no choice but to close herself off. Can Charles be the one to break through her walls and show her that she's worthy of love?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler alert: This story runs along with game play, so be aware there will be spoilers from the game within this story.  
> I don't own anything other than the OC I may bring into the story.  
> Warning: There are some references that may trigger vulnerable people, read at your own caution.

https://vk.com/artisthunt_reference?z=photo-117432490_433800655%2Fwall-117432490_10966 - What I imagined Aurora too look like (don't own image)

Chapter 1

**Arthur**

We have been stuck up here in this old mining town, half frozen, for a few days now. After I found John, I decided to go check in on Pearson. On my way over I see Javier with Aurora McKenzie, Rori, as she like to be called.

He’s been teaching her Spanish, well, the stuff she doesn’t know. She might not seem like it, with her pale skin, blue eyes and fiery red curly hair but she is Spanish and Scottish. Her mother was an immigrant for Mexico and her father from Scotland.

I’ll never forget the day we found her, she was the youngest I think, at only 12 years old. Her life has been a horrible one for a young thing like her, but I do hope she gets a happy ending that all women deserve.

_It was autumn of 1890, I was 28 at the time, we had just raided an O’Driscoll campsite at an abandoned farmhouse. Most were dead, the rest of that were still alive were running off. Then, in a cabin a little way off from the house, came out a man in nothing but his draws with his cock hanging out and shotgun in his hand began firing at us._

_Dutch finished him off quickly with a bullet to the head, I made my way over to cabin as I was the closest and jokingly said “I better go see who he’s occupying.”_

_“Probably another O’Driscoll,” John snickered, and I laughed along with him._

_I made my way up the stair and was not prepared for what I saw. It was no O’Driscoll nor a whore, but a little girl, looked like she was only ten. Rori. She had curly red hair, pale skin and blue eyes. There was an angry red scar running down the left side of her face, it began from her jawline to her check then flicked back down before making its way up to brow and slashing its way across above her eyebrow. It looked about a year old, still red, and there was no doubt in my mind that it was done to her intentionally. She was in nothing but a dirty shift, that was too small for her, her hair in a tangled mess. She was standing against a wall next to the bed and I could see she had a chain around her ankle. Something twisted inside me when I looked into this little girl’s eyes, I don’t know what it was, but I knew I couldn’t leave this little girl here._

_“Oh, dammit,” I yelled causing her to jump, before I went back outside. “Sick bastards.”_

_“What is it?” Hosea asked as I walked over to my horse to grab a blanket from._

_“It’s a goddamn kid,” I said heading back to the cabin with him and John in tow._

_She was still standing against the wall, hell, she was terrified, even more so when Hosea and John stumbled in after him._

_“Oh, dear god,” Hosea muttered while John let out a string of curses before walking out of the cabin._

_“Sweetheart, I ain’t gone hurt you,” I said slowly walking up to her, slowly crouching down to her level. I tossed the blanket around her which caused her to tense up, as if she were waiting for a hit or something. “Sorry, look I ain’t gone do anything to you. I am gone try and take this chain off you.”_

_I grabbed her leg, which was very tense, and looked at the chain and saw that the bolt was loose, which meant I just had to unscrew it instead of shooting it off, which would have hurt her ankle. It took some strain but eventually the bolt loosened, and I was able to get the thing off her leg._

_“Come on, love,” Hosea said motioning her. She looked at me unsure, to which I nodded. As she slowly walked to Hosea, I noticed she had a limp, whether from something recent or old, I couldn’t be sure._

_As we got out of the cabin, I could see she was unsure of what to do, I can only imagine how this all looks to her, with bodies scattered around her. If they all abused her or if it was the fat bastard who Dutch killed, I couldn’t be sure._

_Hosea had stopped in front of my horse, “Do you want her to ride with her?”_

_I wasn’t so sure whether I should be riding with her or not, she could be hurting from what they did to her. For the first time in my life, I was afraid of hurting someone, I had no problem causing pain to anyone, but this little girl had twisted something fierce inside me._

_“I ain’t so sure she should be riding,” I said to Hosea who I could see had the same question in his head._

_“Only one way to find out,” he said bending down to the little girl’s height, “Do you feel up to riding, love? We are gonna take you away from here, but we don’t want to hurt you doing so?”_

_“I’m okay,” she said softly, she sounded so fragile, it made me want to kill those bastards all over again. And make certain the fat one suffers._

_I get on my horse first, and then motion for Hosea to lift the girl up to me, and I place her in front of me sideways. I firmly place one hand around her waist to make sure she doesn’t slide or fall. We ride back to camp at a steady pace, I wanted to ask the questions of how she got there but didn’t want to overstep any boundaries. Perhaps its best to leave her with Miss Grimshaw, having a woman around might put her at ease enough to talk._

_We ride back into camp where Miss Grimshaw, Mr Pearson, Reverend Swanson and Uncle were awaiting our return. Miss Grimshaw was the first to greet us, “Welcome back gentlemen,” she said walking over to us. She stops dead in her tracks when she sees that I have a little girl in my arms. John comes over to us after he gets off his horse, then helps the girl down. After I get down, I walk over to Miss Grimshaw and whisper to her how we found the girl and ask if she can get her cleaned up and dressed properly._

_After she nods, she walks over to the little girl, “Come along now, dear,” she said holding her hand out. The little girl looks to me for confirmation again to which I nod my head. And she slowly puts her hand into Miss Grimshaw’s who then takes her to her camp._

_I walk over to Dutch’s tent where he, Hosea and John. “So, what are we going to do about this girl?” Hosea asked._

_“I don’t know, find out how she got there, see if she knows anything,” Dutch said. “Perhaps it’s best we take her to an orphanage afterward.”_

_“Are you kidding me, Dutch?” John said incredulous. “We can’t just dump her off somewhere after what she’s been through.”_

_“He’s right, Dutch,” I said._

_“What do you suggest I do? Just keep her around, show her the life of an outlaw.”_

_“You did it with us?” John states._

_“That’s different, you were young men, teenagers. This is a child, a female child. There’s no room for that kind of innocence in this gang.”_

_“I’m pretty sure her innocence was taken a long time ago,” Hosea said solemnly. “But perhaps an orphanage would be a better place for her than here.”_

_“God,” John storms off away from us._

_“Fine,” I said. “Once Miss Grimshaw has her dressed, I’ll take her into town myself.”_

_“Thank you, Arthur,” Dutch said._

_About an hour later Miss Grimshaw comes over to me. “I hope you eviscerated the bastards that hurt the poor thing.”_

_“I wished I had, had I known she was there. Did she say anything to you?”_

_“She doesn’t understand much. Her name is Aurora, but she prefers Rori. She speaks Spanish and English. Her mother was from Mexico and her father was from Scotland. After her mother died, her father apparently would drink and gamble whatever money came his way, then he gambled with the O’Driscoll’s and couldn’t pay up, so he gave her to them. She belonged to one of them for a while, she thinks he was a leader before he gave her to the rest of them bastards._

_“Jesus.”_

_“The bastard apparently scarred her face, so no one would want her, as he said. He broke her leg too. Never healed right, that’s why she limps. She was with them for a while, she thinks she may be 11 or 12, she was 10 when her father gave her away, the coward.”_

_“What, I don’t believe this?”_

_“I can’t either, she is just a child.”_

_I release a long sigh before asking, “Is she ready to go? Dutch wants me to put her in the orphanage in town.”_

_“What?”_

_“I know, John and I went against it, but he is set on this and Hosea agreed with him. It’s better she be in an orphanage than in a gang of outlaws. As he believes.”_

_“Unbelievable, alright, I’ll go get her.”_

_After I get saddled up, Miss Grimshaw brings the girl over who is now in a small burgundy dress with long sleeves. I tell her we are going into town but don’t go into much details because I don’t want to upset her._

_We are a few miles away from camp, when I here a yell and then knocked off the horse as I get tackled. Rori screams as she goes down. I manage to wrestle with my attacker and kick him off, then get my gun and shoot him._

_Shots ring out from with in the trees, “Get that bastard,” I hear yelled in a thick accent, that can only be known as the O’Driscoll’s. “Death to anyone who thinks he can mess with the O’Driscoll’s,” Is yelled which confirms it. There’s three of them, I shoot two before the other one charges at me and tackles me._

_He kicks my gun away and stand up and points his gun at me. BANG. But it was his gun that went off, he falls sideways into the ground and I see a hole in the side of his head. I look to my left and see Rori with my revolver in her hand just staring at the O’Driscoll she just shot. I quickly get up and rush to her before she has a panic attack._

_“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” I take the gun out of her hand and make her focus on me. “Sweetheart, answer me.”_

_She looks at me with tears in her eyes, “I didn’t want them to hurt you, they were gonna kill you and take me back. I don’t want to go back.”_

_I pull her into my arms, “Shh, it’s okay. They aren’t gonna git you. I’m gonna make sure of it. You gonna stay with us.”_

_I stand up and whistle for Boadicea, who rushes back to me. I put Rori on first then get on behind her and rush back to camp._

_Miss Grimshaw sees us first and rushes over and takes Rori and leads her over to the fire and sits her down before handing her a bowl of stew. I walk over to Dutch and Hosea._

_“What happened?” he asked._

_“The O’Driscoll’s happened, they set a trap on the way into town.” I said. I retell what happens and when I finished, I stated, “Aurora stays Dutch, I’ll be responsible for her, you don’t have to do anything but give me your blessing if you can. If not, I can do this without it.”_

_He lets out a heavy sigh, “You’ll teach her how to run in the gang?” I nod. “Then you have my blessing.” I look over to where Rori is sitting by the fire with Uncle. He said something to her and for the first time since we found her, she smiled._

I know I’d die for this girl, even though she is not by blood, I will raise her as if she were my daughter.


	2. Chapter 2

## Chapter 2

**Charles**

I look up from where I am standing with the horses when I hear the sweetest laughter. I see Aurora with Javier and they’re smiling at each other. I don’t know if they are together, but I know they are close, and I can’t help but feel a ping of jealousy run through me.

Ever since I joined the gang, I’ve been drawn to Aurora since the moment I met her. Like me, she is quiet, not because she’s shy but because she chooses not to say much. I don’t know her story, she doesn’t like to talk about it and from the rumours it sounds bad, but I don’t know how much is true. Karen and Micah say she was an O’Driscoll whore, some say she is Miss Grimshaw’s love child with an O’Driscoll, but who knows. It does involve these so-called O’Driscolls, whoever they are?

I see Arthur walk over to the kitchen and I follow him in.

“We’re gonna starve to death up her, Mr Morgan,” I hear Mr Pearson, the camp cook says.

“We’re okay,” Arthur says.

“We have a few cans of food and rabbit,” Pearson says irritated. “For what 10, 12 people. When I was in the Navy,”

“I don’t want to hear about what you got up to in the Navy, Mr Pearson.”

“We were stranded at sea for 50 days.”

“And you unfortunately survived.”

“When we ran away from Blackwater, I wasn’t able to get supplies in.”

“Well, when Government agents are hunting you down, sometimes shopping trips have to be cut short. We’ll survive, we always have and if needs be, we can eat you, you’re the fattest.”

I smiled at this.

“I sent Lenny and Bill hunting and they found nothing.”

“Well, why didn’t you send out Rori?” Arthur grumbles. “She’s the hunter of the camp.”

This surprises me, I never would have guessed that Aurora was the hunter, I thought it’d been one of the others in the group. But that does explain why she goes off on her own and when she’s back we have a good feast from Pearson.

“Mr Van Der Linde wouldn’t have it,” Pearson says. “Something about her not wandering off on her own just in case she runs into any O’Driscolls.” This causes Arthur to groan.

I walk into the kitchen and stand by the fire and watch the two interact.

“Well, Lenny’s more into book learning than hunting. Bill’s a fool. Unless those mountains are full of game that wanna read, ain’t no wonder they found nothing.”

“Enough of this,” I said fed up with their bickering. “We’ll go find something. Come on, Arthur.”

“Wait a second,” Pearson said heading toward the bench. “Hold on. Here, you’re gonna need something to eat out there.

“Assorted salted offal,” Arthur reads the label. “Starving would be preferable.” But he pockets the jar. I don’t disagree with him.

“Come on, lets go,” I said.

“You can’t go hunting,” Arthur said. “Look at your hand.”

“I can’t stay here listening to you two. Look, if there’s game in those hills I’ll find it, and you can kill it.”

“You need to rest, Charles.”

“You think this is rest. Come along.”

I walk out to the horses and take my bow off my back and pass it to Arthur.

“Here, you take this. I can’t use it and you’ll have to.”

“Oh, you’re joking…”

“Use a gun and you’ll scare off every animal for miles around. You’re never too old to learn. I’d imagine.”

“That’s what I tell him,” I hear Aurora’s voice say from behind us. “Pa be careful okay. Dutch said I couldn’t go because O’Driscoll boys are about.”

“Always,” Arthur said. “How many times I told you not to call me that? Makes me feel old.”

She giggles as we ride out and it takes all my strength to take my eyes off her. That’s a new one, I’d never would have guessed she was Arthur’s daughter.

“Come on, this way,” I said steering my horse through the snow slowly. And because my curiosity got the better of me, “I’d never would’ve guessed Aurora was your daughter.”

“Well, she’s my daughter everyway but,” Arthur said which surprises me. “She was a little girl when we found her. She was being held at a camp we raided by a rival gang. I was supposed to take her to an orphanage but that didn’t happen.”

“Why’s that?”

“On the way into town, we were jumped. I was dead for sure after a guy knocked me on my arse and was gonna shoot me. But then Aurora shot him first. I knew then and there that I couldn’t take this girl to an orphanage. Decided to raise her within the camp. Best decision I have ever made.”

He went quiet then.

“How are you holding up Charles?” He suddenly asked.

“I’m okay, apart from the hand. Stupid mistake.”

“Still bad?”

“It’ll be fine in a day or two. I just can’t pull a bow right now.”

“I sure hope I can. I never really got that hang of it, Rori is the one who does the hunting.”

“So, if you didn’t teach her, then who did?”

“Some boy she met who was trying to impress her. Thought he was gonna stick around with us, they were together for a while, until John ran him off.”

“Why?”

“Jealousy. Rori and John were together, partners in love and crime, back in the day.”

This surprised me, the many times I’ve seen John and Aurora interact it always went bad. Full on screaming matches, I’ve seen her hit him once. But John’s never laid a hand on her, I don’t think. “I never would’ve guessed. Aurora seems like she hates John.”

“Oh, she does. Don’t be fooled into thinking the screaming matches ain’t real. They were going good, thought they were gonna live happily ever after, then it all went bad.”

“Do you know what happened?”

“Abigail happened.”

“Oh.”

“Yep, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned as they say. Any way she tolerates them now, avoids them where she can. But she loves Jack though, which is something, she mucks around with him more than anyone else in the camp. I ain’t sure I’m gonna be any good with this bow.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“So, you reckon we gonna find something to kill that ain’t an O’Driscoll?”

“Ha, there’s meat up here for sure, Pearson doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Now the weather’s eased off a bit, they’ll be needing to feed. We’ll head up this way.”

We carry on, making small conversation as we go. Arthur kills two deer with perfect head shots, I knew he’d be good with the bow. We head back to camp, Arthur tells me about the O’Driscolls, how there’s a blood feud going on with the leader Colm and Dutch. I was too afraid to ask about Aurora’s story involving the O’Driscoll’s, so I let it be for now.

We make our back to camp, bypassing a bear on the way. I go to rest in the stables with my hand, as Arthur begins skinning the deer for Pearson.

I hear talking as I enter the stables, it’s so faint that I almost miss it. It’s Aurora talking to her horse, I can’t think of its name though. It is a black mustang with a white diamond-like spot on its nose, it’s mane and tail in its natural state. I walk over to her slowly.

“He’s a beautiful horse,” I said which startles her. She looks up at me and her pale blue eyes are beautiful. I see she’s unsure whether to reply, so I decide to probe a bit to get her talking.

“What’s his name?”

“Zander,” she said focusing back on the horse. “How’s the hand?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Show me.”

Before I can say anything, she grabs my arm and begins to unwrap my hand. It looks worse than it is but it sure does hurt. “What happened?”

“Stupid mistake, burned it in the engine room on the boat.”

She turns to Kenna and grabs something out of the saddlebags. It’s a jar full of a white substance that’s all mushed. “This helped me when I got burnt. It’ll feel cold but it will take away the stinging sensation and numb it.”

She begins to rub the stuff over the burn, it hurts at first but then it begins to numb just like she says it would. I watch as her small hands move over mine, they’re so small and soft. I look up to her face and see the scar. I’ve always wondered how she got it, she’s beautiful but for something like that to happen to her is a shame. My eyes roam over the rest of her face, her curly hair is held back from her face with a folded bandana wrapped around her head, tied in a knot at the top of her head. There’s a slight dash of freckles over her nose, and her lips are in a perfect bow shape, and a darker shade of pink than normal.

I look back to her eyes and see she’s staring back at me. I part my lips to say something before we hear yelling which breaks us out of our trance.

“Sorry,” she said before moving past me out the back of the barn.

I go out the other way and see Dutch and the boys saddling up. “Mr. Matthews, Mr Pearson and Mr Smith, would you please look after the place? There are O’Driscolls about.”

To this I nod, and then turn to see Aurora heading into the building where all the others are. She stops right before she gets to the door and she looks at me and smiles before heading into the building.

**Rori**

I head into the building where all the others are milled about with a smile on my face and regret it. I see Abigail fussing over John and my smile fades. I look to my left and see Karen looking at me curiously.

“What was that smile for?” She asked.

“Nothing,” I looked down and blushed before going over to her and sitting down next to her.

When I was helping Charles, this giddy feeling came over me so sudden. I hadn’t felt this way in a while, not since John really. I don’t want to get me hopes up, thinking there’s something there that isn’t but the way he was looking at me tells me something different.

Charles hasn’t been with us long, and I’ve never really engaged in anything other than the occasional hello around camp. He is a handsome one, his mixed race does wonders for his feature of dark coloured skin, piercing brown eye and long locks that I want to run my hands through. Jesus, where did that thought come from?

“You’re blushing,” Karen said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I realise my smile is on full display, “Shut up.”

Miss Adler begins sobbing, poor girl. I can’t imagine how she feels, losing her husband and home at the hands of O’Driscolls. I know firsthand the cruelty the O’Driscolls are capable of, I hope she will be able to move past it. I hope I do, it’s been almost 10 years but there are things that I’ve been conditioned to do, so I’m not reminded of my time with them.

I sleep away from camp, mostly at the scouting area near the horses because I have night terrors that have me waking up suddenly, sometime screaming. But also, because I’m afraid that if I go to sleep in a cabin or tent, I’ll wake up back in that cabin. Ever since we got up here, I haven’t been sleeping because of this, I doze off every now and then, but it doesn’t last long. I spend most nights by the fire outside the cabin across from the camps makeshift kitchen. I sure hope we get off this mountain soon.

Jack comes over to me and sits down in my lap, “It’s really cold.”

“Oh, I know Jackie,” I said cuddling him. “Here, let me warm you.”

I start rubbing up against him, tickling him when he’s not expecting it, causing him to shrill with laughter. “There are you warm now?” Tickling him again.

“Jack, over here now,” Abigail hisses from the other side of the room. I look up to see her glaring at me.

“But momma –”

“Now, Jack.”

“It’s okay, Jack, we’ll play later,” I said pushing him off me.

I get up and walk out the door, I head over to the cabin where Arthur, Hosea and Dutch are housed. I see Molly in Dutch’s room looking at herself in her little mirror. I’ve always liked Molly. She might be all high and mighty but she’s a lovely woman once you get past that. I just hope Dutch doesn’t break her heart, she’s pretty and Dutch is smitten with her, but I know he doesn’t love her. Not the way she loves him, at least.

Hosea is sitting in front of the fire with a solemn expression. “Everything alright, Hosea?”

“Oh, I’m fine, love,” He said turning to look at me. “What about you? I know you haven’t been sleeping since we got on this mountain.”

“Okay, who tattled?”

“No one, I can see it on your face, why don’t you go lie down on Arthur’s bed for a while.”

“You know I can’t. I –”

“I’ll be right here. I’ll make sure to wake you up at the first signs of distress.”

“Promise?”

“Always. Now go, I’ll be right here when you wake.”

I head into Arthur’s room and sit down on his bed. There’s a widow that gives off enough light at least. I lay down, not bothering to pull the blanket over myself, as I don’t think I’ll be asleep for long and then drift off into the void.


	3. Chapter 3

## Chapter 3

**Rori**

We are finally getting off this goddamn mountain. I thought I’d go crazy before that’d happened, I’ve had to mingle in the kitchen with Pearson and with the horse most of the time, because I’ve been avoiding certain people. Pearson is a good man underneath all that Navy Rum, but there are times when he becomes a miserable bastard, to which I head off and hide out with the horses.

I’ve been conversing with Charles more than I normally would since I’ve invaded his hiding spot in the stables. We’ve agreed to show each other our hunting skills once we get off this mountain. I’ve shown him my bow, which was specifically designed for me by my old flame Marcus’ father, it is smaller than a regular bow to account for my size. It was carved to have a handle section for me just below rest spot, making it easier for me to draw.

I help Hosea and Arthur pack their wagon, I put up the last few of the items in the back before grabbing my journal out of my bag then jump on the back on top of one of the chests and wait to set off. I don’t write in it a lot, mainly just draw like Arthur taught me. I hear Dutch and Hosea talking about where we’re going, someplace called Horseshoe Overlook, outside of a town named Valentine, which to me sounds like a bore. But you never know.

Miss Grimshaw comes over to me, “Are you alright, child? You could come in the other wagon with us.”

“I’ll be fine, Miss Grimshaw,” I said. “Besides, I’m not in the mood for the company I’d be keeping if I did.”

She nods before going over to her wagon and getting on, and then we’re off. I quickly sketch stuff as we pass, the frozen river, a moose drinking out of a small lake, the crossing underneath rail tracks. We get to a river crossing that becomes a small waterfall that we go through and the wagon begins to shake that I have to hold on to make sure I don’t shift as well.

“Get us out of the stream,” Hosea said urgently.

However, once we get to the other side the wheel comes of causing some stuff and me to fall out, to which I let out a short scream. I land on my side, my shoulder hitting a rock that is gonna leave a bruise.

“Rori, you alright?” I hear Arthur yell out.

“I will be,” I said not wanting to move but feel hands on my shoulder and hip. I look up to see it is Charles

“Are you sure?” Charles helps me up by grabbing one of my hands, the other on my hip.

I nod, not trusting myself to say something that won’t seem dumb.

“You alright back there?” Bill yells out from the wagon up front.

“Does everything look alright?” Arthur grumbles.

“Well, what’s going on?” I hear Javier ask.

“I broke the goddamn wheel.”

I still haven’t taken my eyes off Charles who is still looking me over intently. Once he’s satisfied, he goes to the other side of the wagon to help Hosea and Arthur.

“Alright, let’s get it fixed,” Hosea said.

Hosea and Charles go to lift the back of the wagon up, as Arthur picks up and wheel and rolls it to the side before banging it back in.

“You still strong enough to hold up the wagon?” Arthur’s smartass mouth gets the better of him sometimes.

“Shut up,” Hosea is always quick.

“I’m just saying.”

“Well, say less.” I love Hosea.

I go to grab one of the chests once there done but a hand on my elbow stops me. Charles. “No, let me. Don’t want you hurting yourself more than you already have.”

“I’m not fragile,” I said a bit too harshly. I can’t help but be hostile when people treat me like I’m about to break. Like I can’t handle anything, considering I’m tougher than most of the guys in our camp.

“Never said you were,” he said with a smirk on his face.

Hosea and Arthur are still giving each other shit. But then they stop suddenly and look up behind me, I turn to see what they’re looking at.

There are three natives on horse atop the cliff face staring down at us.

“What you think?” Arthur asked lowly.

“If they wanted trouble, we wouldn’t have seen them,” Charles said.

Hosea lifts his hand in a wave but gets no response from them.

“Poor bastards,” he said. “We really screwed them over down hear. Come on, let’s not push our luck.”

Charles helps me up into the back of the wagon before taking position across from me. “I believe this belongs to you.” He hands me my journal and I smile my thanks. “You’re very talented.”

“Thank you,” I said. “Some things are so beautiful to me that memory isn’t enough, so I draw them in here.”

Arthur begins asking about how the natives got screwed over, and I sense Charles bristle as the continue talking. Charles begins to carry on the conversation with them, but I block it out, I have no room for politics. They bore me more than anything, I know most of what’s going on is wrong, but it ain’t gonna change anytime soon. People are always afraid of change.

“Rori, was the youngest,” Hosea saying my name pulls me out of my trance. “She was about 11 or 12 when we found her.”

“You’re unsure of your age?” Charles looks at me. “Arthur told me how you joined the gang after they found you at a rival gang’s hideout. How’d a young girl get into a gang anyway?”

“It’s a bad story,” I mumble not really wanting to go into it, but I know I must give him some information to kill his curiosity.

“My mother died when I was young, after that my father turned into this horrible man who drank and gambled away all our money. He gambled with the wrong people one day and couldn’t pay up.”

“The O’Driscolls?”

“Yeah, he didn’t want to die so he gave me to them. I was 10. I was kept in isolation most of the time, and it was a very long time and I lost track. Barely saw the outside world, and when they did have to move, I was blindfolded. I’m not sure how old I am because I couldn’t be sure how much time went by, maybe a year or two. I’m at least 20 or 21, if you’re wondering.”

“Woah.” Charles is stunned.

“Yeah, but I don’t worry myself to much about it.”

“Arthur hear was a wilder delinquent, you ever did see,” Hosea changes the conversation as he knows I don’t like talking about my past. “But he learned fast.”

“Not as fast as Marston, apparently,” Arthur spits out.

“Wait. What’s the problem with you and him?” Charles is curious by this.

I block this part out because Arthur can go on and on about John leaving the gang for a year after Jack was born. And I don’t really want to listen, so I block them out again and look for something else to draw.

Before I know it, I hear Javier’s voice, “There you are brother.”

He gives Arthur instruction on where to go into camp before getting on the back.

“Hey, Chica, how you feelin’ after that tumble?” he asked.

“I’ll be fine,” I said. “It looked worse than it was.”

“You draw me yet?” He asked looking at my journal.

“In your dreams.”

“You better watch out for this one, Charles? She’ll draw you in a gown for entertainment if you’re not careful.”

I roll my eyes at this. I’ve only ever did that once and it was of Bill. He pissed me off one day, so I decided to draw him in a dress standing suggestively and left it on the campsite table for all to see.

“Haha, I remember that,” Arthur laughs. “It was of Bill, if I remember correctly.”

We get into the clearing and I see most of the tents have already been put up. I get off and grab some stuff down off the wagon. Miss Grimshaw gets all us girls moving about making sure everything is set up by evening.

It is just after sunset when everything is all set up. Most of the group have all crashed, with only me and a few others still up. I’ve got a bowl of stew and am leaning against a log in front of the fire, Javier is playing a soft tune on his guitar on his bedroll next to Charles who has already called it a night. Pearson is sitting on one of the chairs to my right next to Lenny, who has just got back from scoping out Valentine with Micah. They head to Strawberry tomorrow.

“It’s good stew, Pearson,” Lenny tells Pearson as he finishes his bowl. I look at Pearson and nod and smile to let him know I agree with Lenny. It’s pretty good, considering most of it is vegetables. I gotta go hunting sometime soon.

“So, a liar and a whore,” I hear the asshole Micah say from behind me off to the side. He comes around to the fire but stands on the other side of it across from me. When given the chance, I’ll gut this weasel.

Lenny and Pearson look at me, Javier stops playing and he’s watching me, waiting for some reaction. I have already decided what I’m gonna do if he gets any closer, he won’t because he’s too chicken.

“So, O’Driscoll whore, when are you going to show me some of them moves they taught you?” He licks his lips suggestively and I resist the urge to gag, holding my neutral face. “You know there is one here, how about we get a show, then I’ll take over.”

I stand up slowly, “How about you come over here and I’ll show you.”

He chuckles and takes the bait by walking around the fire toward me. Once he’s in front of me, I slam my bowl on the side of his face, covering him in stew, causing him to stubble sideways. I take advantage of this and tackle him to the ground and pin him with my knee on his chest and start punching him in the face, there is a crunch sound as I connect with his nose at one point. He clips me in the jaw sending me flying off him, this is when the others come in to help. Charles is up and in front of me and Javier in front of him. Pearson and Lenny have Micah restrained and he shrugs them off.

“Bloody bitch,” he yells. “She hit me first.”

“You deserved it, Micah,” Lenny yells.

“Enough,” Dutch yells from behind us causing all of us to spin around. “You ignorant fools, fighting amongst yourselves. I don’t care what happened, but Miss McKenzie, you can’t go around hitting other camp members.”

“Are you kidding me, Dutch?” I protested.

“Not another word, young lady.”

“But Dutch -,” Lenny begins.

“Ah, nope.”

I let out a frustrated groan before walking away and heading to the horses. I unhitch Zander and ride out of camp, unsure of where I’m gonna go.

I never understood what Dutch sees in the pig-headed maggot, apparently, he saved Dutch’s life but surely that shouldn’t make him untouchable. One of these days he’s gonna destroy the gang, hopefully, I’m out before that happens. I head up to the right of a place know as Twin Peaks, once at the top of the hill, I spot flat land and decide to set up camp there. I should be able to see if someone is coming up on me, since its right next to a cliff face showing the road.

I get a fire going and then begin putting up a tent I won’t use. It’s starting to drizzle, so I go to Zander and pull out my cloak, once on I go to sit in front of the fire. I watch as the water droplets hit and then fizzle out of existence.

I’ve often wondered where we’d go, if all of us go or if some go their own way. I’m not sure what I’m gonna do. I want to stay with the group, but I can’t help but feel like an outsider more and more every day. If I do leave, I would probably head back to Montana, I miss the woods and the river where our camp was, before the fire, I had some good memories there. If not, somewhere similar perhaps. I do want Arthur, Hosea and Miss Grimshaw to be with me though, I don’t know what I’ll do without them.

There’s a snap behind me, someone is there. I slowly grab my knife out of my boot and waited for them to get closer. Once they were in range, I spun around quick and knocked them off their feet by sweeping their legs out from underneath them and then I jumped them and held my knife to their throat.

It is Charles. Shit.

“Sorry,” I said and slowly back off him. “Who sent you? You shouldn’t have followed.”

“No one,” he said getting back to his feet. “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. You shouldn’t go off on your own.”

“Well, as you clearly saw, I can look after myself.”

His lips twitch at the corners. “Do you want me to go?” He seemed genuine which made me feel bad, he shouldn’t have to put up with me like this when he did nothing wrong.

“No, it’s okay, sorry for being a bitch. That bastard just put me in a mood.”

“I’d never consider you a bitch, and you have a right to be angry after what he called.”

This got me thinking, “I thought you were sleeping.”

“When you run in a gang, you gotta learn how to pretend to sleep. In case someone want to kill you in your sleep.”

“Had that happen, did ya?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Well, come sit down, or go to sleep in the tent. I won’t be using it.”

I sit back down on my spot in front of the fire and look out off the cliff face, Charles doesn’t go to the tent but sits across the fire from me. I make a mental note of the game that is out there. Deer, rabbits and pronghorn will be the main ones to go after.

There is a long moment of silence before Charles breaks it.

“Can I ask you something?”

I contemplate whether to say yes or not, just in case I don’t want to answer his question. I look at him and nod.

“Why do you stick around, with the way you’ve been treated by Dutch, Micah and some of the others?”

I look at him a bit surprised, I know what he means, and I didn’t think anyone noticed but me. Even Arthur hasn’t.

“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to overstep.”

“No, it’s not that. I just thought I was the only one to notice. Just give me a moment.”

I try to think of how to word how I feel. I don’t usually talk about this to anyone because I can’t and I’m certain no one will listen.

“I stay because I can’t think of anywhere else to go,” I said after some thought. “I can’t remember where my home was, but I don’t want to go back there. My father was sorta like yours, turned into a drunk not long after my mother died. Arthur is more of a father to me than him, so I guess you can say I stay because of him. And Miss Grimshaw, she might be an angry lady, but she has a soft heart, I lost my mother young but because of her I didn’t miss out on much. If I go, what will that mean to them?”

“I see, but why are you treated that way by them?”

“They aren’t all bad, I’ve known Uncle since I was a kid. When they first brought me back to camp, I was terrified but then Uncle cracked a joke and I smiled for the first time in a long time. Bill and Lenny both treat me with respect because I save their asses a couple of times and didn’t rag on them about it. Javier didn’t know one English very well, and I had to help him out sometimes, and in return he taught me Spanish better.”

“But the others?”

 “Um, the girls are pretty simple to answer, I’m Miss Grimshaw’s favourite. I’m not too worried about Micah, he doesn’t know, nor will he understand the situation I’ve been in. John and Abigail are complicated.”

“Arthur told me you two were together but then…” He trails off and I know what he means by that.

“Yeah, it was that whole first love scenario. I was scared because I had never felt that way before, but I was happy for the first time since the gang found me. Then Abigail shows up. Funny how betrayal always comes from someone close. I hate John because I trusted him, and John blames Abigail for that which in turn makes her hate me.”

“He doesn’t realise it was himself?”

“I think he does, he just didn’t want to accept that. He was gone for a while after Jack was born and I had begun to try to be with someone, then he came back and drove him away and I resented him even more. After that I avoid both as much as I can. But with Dutch… I don’t know.”

“What do you mean?”

“Dutch never wanted me around to begin with, and he still doesn’t, it seems. And I don’t know why.”

I let out a long sigh. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

I get up and walk over to the cliff and sit down. How could someone hate a person they just met, especially if that person is a child.


End file.
